edstreet
Member
[soapbox]
Lets see here. First let me say I am not trying to slam anyone, just trying to address a growing problem that I see as a pen maker. These problems that I address is grossly discouraging and repeals buyers. New makers has a much higher problem than us old salts.
There are way to many duplicate pen kits out there from various sources that is the same
kit. Same kit sold by 4+ companies each with a different name. 2-3+ different companies making the same type pen with the same name but each sold by unique companies, oh and get this, the specs are not the same. i.e euro center bands, slimlines, sierra's.
The other problem I noticed is the names will be similar and often over lapping, i.e. sierra elegant beauty, sierra elegant, etc. It just kills me when I see sites like exotic blanks list many good variety pen kits but fails to mention tube and bushing sizes; places like PSI goes out of their way to hide the bushing sizes; Woodcraft, well lets just not go there. There are others equally guilty and more so but the ones I listed was off the top of my head so don't feel picked on if you got mentioned.
What would be fantastic is a list of all the pen kits, image, bushing type/size, tube type/size, who sell it under different names and the like. Everything I have seen is grossly outdated, incomplete nor covers everything that is needed.
One thing I have YET to see *ANY* vendor do is a kit search by type, one where you can filter out by feature, type, plating, size, material, weight, diameter. Before anyone posts you can do that already try these:
*) Get a listing of all ball point pens with a round ball on the clip;
*) Any kit that has a max tube length of 2.6 inches;
*) Pencil with a tube diameter of 1/2 inch;
*) Kits that will take a G2 gel refill;
*) kits with a top that is 0.334" in diameter that has a screw thread for the cap
*) kits with a flat clip; kits with an S shaped clip.
Oh and my favorite of all: I am looking for pen kit X, vendor A who I mostly buy from is out of stock, what other vendor(s) carries them and under what name?
[/soapbox]
Lets see here. First let me say I am not trying to slam anyone, just trying to address a growing problem that I see as a pen maker. These problems that I address is grossly discouraging and repeals buyers. New makers has a much higher problem than us old salts.
There are way to many duplicate pen kits out there from various sources that is the same
kit. Same kit sold by 4+ companies each with a different name. 2-3+ different companies making the same type pen with the same name but each sold by unique companies, oh and get this, the specs are not the same. i.e euro center bands, slimlines, sierra's.
The other problem I noticed is the names will be similar and often over lapping, i.e. sierra elegant beauty, sierra elegant, etc. It just kills me when I see sites like exotic blanks list many good variety pen kits but fails to mention tube and bushing sizes; places like PSI goes out of their way to hide the bushing sizes; Woodcraft, well lets just not go there. There are others equally guilty and more so but the ones I listed was off the top of my head so don't feel picked on if you got mentioned.
What would be fantastic is a list of all the pen kits, image, bushing type/size, tube type/size, who sell it under different names and the like. Everything I have seen is grossly outdated, incomplete nor covers everything that is needed.
One thing I have YET to see *ANY* vendor do is a kit search by type, one where you can filter out by feature, type, plating, size, material, weight, diameter. Before anyone posts you can do that already try these:
*) Get a listing of all ball point pens with a round ball on the clip;
*) Any kit that has a max tube length of 2.6 inches;
*) Pencil with a tube diameter of 1/2 inch;
*) Kits that will take a G2 gel refill;
*) kits with a top that is 0.334" in diameter that has a screw thread for the cap
*) kits with a flat clip; kits with an S shaped clip.
Oh and my favorite of all: I am looking for pen kit X, vendor A who I mostly buy from is out of stock, what other vendor(s) carries them and under what name?
[/soapbox]